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A female snake has had a 'virgin birth' at West Midlands Safari Park Credit: Erwin Patzelt/DPA/Press Association Images

A female snake has given birth despite never being near a male.

The Green Anaconda at West Midlands Safari Park shares a habitat with another female and experts say it is a 'virgin birth'.

They say the 'neonates' are clones of the mother.

What had occurred is known to scientists as parthenogenesis, literally Greek for ‘virgin birth’, and this appears to be first time the process has been documented for anacondas. This form of virgin birth has only been reported on in very rare occasions in the past - in a rattlesnake, a rainbow boa, garter snakes and a Komodo dragon.